FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS was an early Oscar favorite for the last year, and now that its come out, I can safely predict...FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS...that Eastwood will not win an Oscar for this movie.
Its reviews, as one can find at Rotten Tomatoes, range from disapointment to solid positive reviews, but none of which I would describe as being "enthusiastic". Plus, a $120 million movie, financially it got slaughtered at theaters by the Japanese.
As of my current Oscar analysis(I like to think the Oscars the same as politics, but more interesting since its movies, and its outcome doesn't threaten millions of people), FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS will be lucky to get a nomination for both Best Picture and Director, with the latter being a possible 50/50 chance for Eastwood.
But the Best Director race is shaping up to be a 3-way dance. Scorsese with THE DEPARTED, Condon with DREAMGIRLS, and Steven Soderbergh with THE GOOD GERMAN. My money is on Scorsese at the moment.
Anyway, FLAGS was a pretty good film, but really, Eastwood needs to leave Paul Haggis. That black hole of considerable shit...really DC, Eastwood has to get back to some great writers that served his considerable directorial talent well, like say David Webb Peoples(who scripted UNFORGIVEN).
Now LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA sounds damn interesting, with Iwo Jima being told from the Japanese perspective. Who knows, maybe Eastwood will get his 3rd Best Director Oscar for that.
